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Jim Anderson
Personal update, avocado hand, and brain needs. Find the episode notes at LifeAfterCarbs.com/nugget.
American teenage boys consume an average of a 161 grams of sugar a day. That's 40 teaspoons of sugar. And you wonder why American children are becoming more obese? When it comes to our bodies and our health, both as individuals and as a nation, sugar is a dirty trick, not a sweet treat.
Say what you want about strawberry jam, but it's fat free. The way some people think, that makes it heart healthy.
If eating carbs will sicken or even kill you, should you eat fewer of them, or rely on pharmacological options to reduce your body's response to dietary carbohydrates?
Net carbs are the difference between total carbs in a food and the fiber. The idea is that fiber doesn't do much if anything to raise your blood glucose, so you can safely ignore it. Keep your net carbs low, and you'll keep your blood glucose and insulin response low. Then your body can burn fat. But can you really trust net carbs as a guide for eating?
When it comes to diet, "intermittency" means making frequent, significant changes in how much you eat. You need to throw your body a dietary change up, and not let it adjust to a single continuous level of intake.
The main lesson of the diet so far is that weight loss is a complex and perplexing topic. It's one of the great mysteries of life. But if a method is working for you, stick with it.
A study out of Australia suggests that breaking up a calorie-restricted diet with periods of increased eating could produce better results for weight loss. Researchers at the University of Tasmania reported their findings in the International Journal of Obesity. What exactly did the study find, and what might it mean for those on an LCHF diet?
There's a difference between minimal protein intake and optimal protein intake. The minimum daily requirement for an inactive adult is 0.36 grams per pound of body weight. You can live on that. But more is probably better, even for the sedentary. The goal is not just to survive, but to thrive. So how much protein is optimal?
Dietary protein intake is an important number to get right. If you eat too little protein over a long stretch, your body will suffer. If you eat too much protein, you could be at greater risk for kidney problems, and your blood glucose may rise, requiring a further release of insulin. Exactly how much protein you should eat depends on several factors. Your size and activity level are two.
To start or restart a ketogenic diet, you need to think about your macro-nutrient targets. Both carbs and protein need to be strictly limited, but dietary fat will be your friend. So what are the specific targets?
Cheating on a low carb diet: you can't eat a sweet or carby treat every day, even if you do it mindfully. You won't get in or stay in ketosis if you do that. But a rare, planned indulgence is acceptable if it keeps you eating LCHF for the long-run.
Typically, people diet to improve their health, their appearance, their mood and confidence, and their chances at living longer. All of those are good, and the nice thing is, they're connected. But the strongest motivations are personal.
Diet myths examined. For a long time, big mainstream news outlets followed lock-step with organizations such as the American Heart Association and the FDA. They promoted the low-fat diet, and the "calories in, calories out" model of weight control. But things are slowly changing.
It's important to be active, to move around. You need to move around every day, and many times a day, if you want to stay healthy, and frankly, alive. A study published this week in the Annals of Internal Medicine drives the point home.
The article in question is a long, detailed, authoritative look at the vitamins, minerals and other micro-nutrients essential to brain functioning and mental health, and where those micro-nutrients come from. Where they come from is mostly animal-based foods.
The study's findings suggest that eating a diet higher in fruits, vegetables, and legumes helps you live longer. The benefit peaked with the consumption of 3 to 4 servings of such food per day.
The best low carb survival foods are nutritious, portable, widely available, and require no refrigeration or cooking. They are ideal foods for either fleeing or hunkering in place.